The List: Meaning, Latin Prefixes, & Greek

MEANING LATIN PF GREEK PF

above, excess super-, ultra- hyper-
across, beyond, through trans- dia-
after post-
again, back re-
against contra-, (in-, ob-) anti-
all omni- pan
around circum- peri-
away or from ab- (or de-) apo-, ap-
bad, difficult, wrong mal- dys-
before ante-, pre- pro-
between, among inter-
both ambi- amphi-
completely or very de-, ob-
down de-, ob-
four quad- tetra-
good ben-, bene- eu-
half, partially semi- hemi-
in, into il-, im-, in-, ir- en-
in front of pro- (& sometimes ob-) pro-
inside intra- endo-
large (macro-, from Greek) macro-
many multi- poly-
not* de-, dis-, in-, ob- a-, an-
on epi-
one uni- mono-
out of ex-, e- ek-
outside extra-, extro- ecto-, exo-
epi- (on top of) or hypo-
over ob- (sometimes)
(too much)
self ego- auto-, aut-,auth-
small micro-
three tri- tri-
through trans- dia-
ad-, a-, ac-, as- (or
to or toward epi-
sometimes ob-)
two bi- di-
under, insufficient sub- hypo-
with co-. com-, con- sym-, syn-
within, inside intra- endo-
without dis- (sometimes) a-, an-
 Negative Prefix List: The Top 6

What's the difference between dis- and mis- or between un- and non-? This negative prefix list
can help you understand these prefixes that can change a word's meaning into its opposite.

Note: I have added the parts of speech (verb, adjective, noun) to the prefix list examples. That's
because some people are looking for negative adjectives or negative verbs.

Go straight to the examples:

• de-

• dis-

• in- (or il-, im-, or ir-)

• mis-

• non-

• un-

Negative Prefix List: Uses

• De- is almost always used before a verb, or a word formed from that verb. It means to reverse
the verb’s action, as in dehydrate, deregulate, or detoxify. (It can have other meanings besides
making a verb negative. For example, it means 'down' in decline, decrease, and depression.)

• Dis- can be used with verbs, nouns, adjectives or adverbs. It also has other meanings besides
making words negative.

• In-, non-, and un- are usually used for nouns, adjectives, or the adverbs formed from them
(though un- is also used for verbs.) They all mean not _____. (In- is the negative prefix in Latin.
non- means 'not' in Latin, and many words using it as a prefix came into English via French. Un-
comes from Old English.)

• Mis- is from Old English, or in some words from French. It's used with verbs (and adjectives and
adverbs made from them), as well as nouns. It means bad, wrong, or wrongly.

• Non- usually means not, but also may mean lack of something.

• Un- is the most common negative prefix in English. If in doubt, it's the best one to try. Un- is the
negative prefix even for many words from Latin roots.
Important:
different ones.
sometimes an adjective uses one prefix and related nouns or verbs use
For example:

• unable, inability, (to) disable;

• unbalanced, imbalance, (to) unbalance;
• unstable, instability, (to) destabilize.
• To deactivate is to make something inactive.

Usually, however, the same prefix serves both adjective and noun. Examples:
uncertain, uncertainty; unwilling, unwillingness; unfriendly, unfriendliness,
inadequate, inadequacy, disloyal, disloyalty, etc.

Negative Prefix Examples:

1. De-
Examples: deactivate, decode, decommission, decompose, deconstruct, decontaminate, deflate,
deflect, deform, demythologize, derail, detract.

The list above is all verbs. We can make any of them into adjectives by adding -ed (or -d if the
verb ends in 'e' already: decoded, deflated, etc.) Several can also become nouns: deactivation,
decomposition, decontamination, deflation, etc. Decrease is already a noun (or a verb.)
Note that the prefix de- in Latin (and in words that originate in Latin) has other, contrary
meanings as well as sometimes making words negative. (See List of Prefixes.)

It is often used as an intensifier, meaning completely (as in demand), as well as meaning from,
down, or away. When used with an English verb to make a new word, it works as a negative.
(Debug, defrost, devalue.)

2. Dis-

Examples (verb/ adjective/ noun or vb/ adj when all are common):

disaffected (adj.), disagree/ disagreeable/ disagreement, disbelief (noun), dishonor (vb. or noun)/
dishonored or dishonorable, disinfect/ disinfected/ disinfection, disinherit/ disinherited, disloyal
(adj.) & disloyalty (noun), displease/ displeased or displeasing/ displeasure, disproportionate
(adj.), distasteful (adj.) and distaste (noun), distrust (vb. or noun)/ distrustful (adj.).

(Tasteful refers to something that shows good taste or judgment. Things which are pleasant to the
taste buds are ‘tasty.’ Distasteful refers to tasks that are unpleasant. Foods that lack flavor are
tasteless. A lack of good taste in aesthetics can also be called tasteless.)
 3. In- (or il-, im-, or ir-)
In- often changes to 'il-' before l; 'im-' before b, m, or p; and 'ir-' before r. These changes make it
easier to pronounce.

Adjective examples:

illegal, illegible, illiterate, illogical, immature, impatient, imperfect, impossible, imprecise,

inaccessible, inaccurate, inadequate, inappropriate, incapable, incoherent, incompatible,
incomplete, inconceivable, inconsistent, incredible, indefinite, indiscreet, inevitable, infinite,
inflexible, insecure, insignificant, insubordinate, insufficient, invalid, invariable, invisible,
involuntary, irrational, irregular, irrelevant, irreparable, irresistible, irresponsible, irreversible,
etc.
A few noun examples using the same roots:

illegibility, illiteracy, immaturity, impatience, imperfection, impossibility, imprecision,

inaccessibility, inaccuracy, inadequacy, inappropriateness, incapability, incoherence,
incompatibility, incompleteness, inconsistency, indiscretion, inevitability, infinity, inflexibility,
insecurity, insignificance, insubordination, insufficiency, invalidity, invariability, invisibility,
irrationality, irregularity, irrelevance, irresponsibility.

Most of these do not have verb forms.

Notice these exceptions in which ‘in-‘ does not negate, but intensifies:

Inflammable has the same meaning as flammable-- something that burns easily. Their opposite is
nonflammable. The same is true for habitable and inhabitable. (The negative is uninhabitable).
Valuable and invaluable also are synonyms— except that invaluable is even stronger. It means
something is priceless: so valuable that a person would not want to give it up for any amount of
money.

4. Mis-
Examples: misconduct (noun), misdemeanor(noun), misdiagnose (to diagnose wrongly-vb.)/
misdiagnosed/ misdiagnosis, misinform/ misinformed/ misinformation, misinterpret/
misinterpreted/ misinterpretation, mislead/ misled or misleading, misplace/ misplaced, misspell/
misspelled/ misspelling, mistake/ mistaken/ mistake, mistrust (both a noun and a verb, but
weaker than distrust), misunderstand/ misunderstood/ misunderstanding.

A misdiagnosed disease has been diagnosed incorrectly. Compare that to an undiagnosed

disease, which has not been diagnosed at all.

In the same way, a misinformed person has received wrong information. An uninformed person
simply does not know much about a subject.
See Voice of America's Learning English for the difference between 'misinformation' and
'disinformation.'
(They both refer to information that is not true. They differ because the purpose of
disinformation is to deceive. People who share misinformation may not realize it's false.)

You can also listen to an audio version of the article and find definitions of all its key words.

5. Non-
Examples-- nouns: nonconformist or nonconformity, nonentity, nonexistence, nonintervention,
nonsense, etc.

Adjectives: nonconforming, nonexistent, nonmetallic, nonpartisan, nonresident,

nonrestrictive (but unrestricted), nonsensical, nonstop.

I can't think of any verbs that begin with non-.

Some words can be negated either with non- or with another negative. In those cases non-
has a more neutral connotation. For example, nonstandard means not according to the usual
standard. In contrast, substandard means below the standard: not good. Nonreligious means not
religious, but irreligious means more actively opposed to religion.

6. Un-
(Adjective) Examples: unable, unacknowledged, unaffected (not affected at all; disaffected
means affected badly), unafraid, unaided, unaltered, unambiguous, unanticipated,
unapproachable, unassigned, unattainable, unavailable, unaware, unceasing, uncertain, unclear,
unconventional, uncooperative, uncoordinated, unenforced, unexposed, unfocused, unfriendly*,
unhelpful, uninformed, unknown, unmodified, unnatural, unpleasant, unpredictable,
unprofessional, unrealistic, unrefined, unresolved, unscheduled, unstable, untouched, unwilling,
etc.

*(in this case -ly isn’t for an adverb. Both friendly & unfriendly are adjectives.)

A few of these have related nouns including unavailability, uncertainty, unenforceability,

unpleasantness, unpredictability, unreality, and untouchability, as well as inability, instability,
and irresolution.

Some also have related adverbs: unambiguously, unceasingly, uncertainly, unconventionally,

unnaturally, unpleasantly, unpredictably, unprofessionally, unrealistically, unwillingly, and
possibly others.

Very few are verbs: undo and (only informally, on Facebook) unfriend.
 50+ Latin Word Roots
To Multiply Your English Word Power!
The great majority of words in an English dictionary have Latin word roots.
(Many came into English from Old French.) That's especially true of words
used in academic or professional writing.

Learning the most common word roots (and a few prefixes and suffixes) will
help you recognize or at least guess at thousands of these academic words.
The list below
examples of the
includes
Englishover
words
50 that
Latincome
wordfrom
roots,
it. each with a few
I chose them for two reasons. They're the base for important English
vocabulary AND their English meanings are still close to the root meanings.
(Why study roots if the words derived from them no longer have similar
meanings?)

Demonstration with
the Latin verb mittere- ‘to send:’
• missile, n. (noun)- a weapon (often a rocket) sent through the air
• mission, n.- the task one is sent to complete (or a church building used
by missionaries)
• missionary, n.- someone sent by a church to a foreign land

More words from mittere plus prefixes:

ad-: ‘to’ or ‘toward’ + mittere-- send to
(This is mostly used now for sending a message of acceptance):

• admissible, adj.-- something or someone that can be accepted. (The

negative is inadmissible.)
• admission, n.-- acceptance into a school, organization, or program (OR
acceptance of blame)
• admit, v.-- to allow into a group (OR to agree something is true: “He
admitted he had made a mistake.”)
• admittance, n.-- acceptance into a program
com-: ‘with’ or ‘together’ + mittere-- send with, send together:

• commission, n.-- an official group created for a specific mission or task,

(or payment to a salesperson of a part of the sale price)
• commission, v.-- to send someone to complete a task. (When it is
finished he or she may be 'decommissioned.')
• commit, v. -- to promise or firmly agree to do something
• committed, adj.-- having sent a message that you will work with
someone or do something
• commitment, n.-- a promise

dis-: not, apart + mittere-- send apart:

• dismiss, v.-- to send away

ex-, e-: out + mittere-- send out:

• emission, n.- something (often energy, gases or sound) sent out

• emit, v.-- to send out

ob-, o-: ‘against’ or ‘over’ + mittere-- overlook or not do or send:

• omission, n.-- something that has not been done that should have been
• omit, v.-- to leave something out

per-: ‘through’ + mittere-- send through, allow

• permit, v.-- to allow or n.-- an official paper stating that something is

allowed (O.K. to do). A second noun is permission (adj. permissible or
negative: impermissible.)

pro-: ‘before’ + mittere-- to send or say before:

• promise, n.(or v.) -- (to make) a statement that in the future something
will definitely be done

re-: ‘back’ + mittere-- send back:

• remit, v.-- to send something back

• remission, n.-- something that is returned (or forgiven)
sub-: under + mittere-- to send under:

• submission, n.-- yielding to another's will

• submit, v.-- to put one’s own will or plans under the will of another
person (to accept their authority)

trans-: across or through + mittere-- to send through or across:

• transmit, v.-- to send a message a long way

• transmitter, n.-- a machine that sends electrical signals across
distances.
• transmission, n.-- long-distance sending

Practice finding some of these words in a word search puzzle. (Answers

are here.)

_____________________________________

English Words from Other Latin Roots

Now use what you have learned about prefixes and suffixes. Try to guess the
meanings of the English examples given after each of these Latin word roots.
(Can you think of others?)
A-D

• actum-- an act, agere-- to do or to act. Examples of English words from

these word roots: act, activity, counteract, deactivate, inactive,
 interaction, reaction, transaction. (To learn more about how words are
made from act, see Word Families.)

• aequaere-- to make even or level,aequus-- equal: equality, equation,

equator, equilibrium, equate, equinox, equity.
(Negatives: disequilibrium, inequality, inequitable, unequal.)

• caedere-- to cut (often -cis) or kill (-cide): concise, decisive, homicide,

imprecise, incision, indecisive, precise.

• clamare-- to shout: acclaim, clamor, exclamation, proclaim, reclaim.

• claudere-- to shut or close: conclusion, exclude, inclusive, inconclusive,

occlude (to close off a passage like an artery), preclude. reclusive,
secluded.

• clinare-- to lean: decline, disinclination, inclination, recline.

• crescere-- to grow: crescendo, decrease, increase, increasingly.

• currere- to run: concurrent, courier, currently, cursive, cursor, cursory,

incur, occur.

• dicere-- to say: addictive, contradict, dictate, dictator, diction, predict,

unpredictable, verdict

• durare- to harden or to last; durus-- hard: arduous, durable, endurance,

unendurable.

F-G
• facere-- to make, factus, made (often becoming fectus when joined with
a prefix. Facere also becomes the suffixes -ify, -ificial, & -ification in
English): affect, artificial, classification, codify, diversify, edification,
effect, efficiently, factor, factory, identify, infect (make someone sick),
justification, perfect, proficient, simplify, specific, superficial, verify.

Negatives from facere: disaffected (affected negatively), unaffected (not

affected at all), declassify, defective, unedifying, ineffective, inefficient,
unidentified, unjustified, imperfection, unspecific, unverified.
• ferre-- to bring/carry: conference (bring together), defer, differentiate,
inferred, refer, transfer.

• finis-- limit or end: confine, definite, definition, final, finite, finish, infinity.

• firmare-- to make firm: affirm, confirmed, confirmation, firmly, infirm.

• fligere-- to strike (hit someone): afflict, affliction, conflict, inflict.

• fluere-- to flow: affluent, confluent, effluent, fluency, flux, influential,

influx, reflux.

• formare- to form: conformity, deform, formalize, format, formation,

inform, nonconformity, reformer, transform, unformatted, unformed,
unreformed.

• fundere-- to pour or melt: confusing, diffuse, fuse, fusion, infuse,

profuse, refusal, transfusion.

• gradi-- to step; gradus-- a step: aggression (neg: nonaggression and

nonaggressive OR unaggressive), biodegradable, congress,
degradation, degree, digression, grade, graduation, progress,
regressive, retrograde, transgression, unprogressive.

• gregare-- to herd (form groups): aggregate, congregation,

desegregation, gregarious, segregation.

H-L
• haerere-- to attach or stick: adhere, adhesive, cohesion, incoherent,
inherent.
• integrare-- to make whole: disintegrate, integer, integral, integration,
integrity.

• jactare-- to throw: conjecture (an idea thrown out to see the response),
dejected, eject, inject, objective, project, projector (machine that throws
a picture forward), rejected, subject to, trajectory.

• jungere- to join together: adjoining, conjoined, conjunction, disjointed,

joint, junction.

• laborare- to work: collaborate, elaborately, labor, laborer, laborious.

• legis, lex-- law: illegal, illegitimate, legal, legality, legislation, legislature,
legitimate.

• locus-- place: allocate, collocation, local, locate, location, relocation.

M-P
• mandare-- to order or command: commandment, demand , mandate,
mandatory
• manus-- hand: manipulate, manual, manufacture, manuscript

• pes, pedis- foot: biped, centipede, expedition, impede, impediment,

pedal, pedestrian

• plicare-- to fold: complicated, duplicate, duplicity, explicit, implication,

implicit, implies, multiply, uncomplicated.

• portare-- to carry: deport, deportment, exports, important, portable,

report, support, transportation. (neg: unimportant, nonportable,
unreported, unsupported)

R-S
• rectus-- right, regere- to lead straight or to rule: correct, correction,
deregulation, direct, erect, incorrect, irregular, rectangle, rectify, regular,
regulate, unregulated.

• rumpere, ruptus-- to break, broken: abrupt, corruption, disruptive, erupt,

incorruptible, interrupt, rupture, uncorrupted, uninterrupted.

• scribere-- to write: ascribe, circumscribe, description, inscribe,

manuscript, postscript, scribe, scripture

• securus-- safe: assure, assurance, ensure, insecure, insurance,

reassure, security, sure.

• sequi-- to follow: consecutive, consequences, inconsequential, sequel,

sequence, subsequently.

• servare-- to keep or protect: conservation, observe, preservation,

reserve, reservoir.
• signare-- to mark or make a sign: assign, design, designate, insignia,
insignificant, resign, sign, signal, signature, significant, unassigned,
undesignated.

• sistere-- to place or take a stand: consistent, existence, insist,

persistent, resist, resistance.

• solvere-- to loosen or dissolve: absolve, dissolution, resolve, resolution,

soluble, solve. (Negatives include: insoluble, unresolved, unsolved.)

• spirare-- to breathe: aspiring, conspire, expired, inspiration, perspire,

respiration, transpire, unexpired, uninspiring.

• statuere-- to put or set: constitutional, institute, institutionalize,

restitution, substitute.

• struere-- to build: construction, destructive, instructions, obstruct,

reconstruct, structure.

T-V
• terminus-- end, boundary: determine, exterminate, terminal, terminate,
terminology.

• testari-- to bear witness: attest (to), contest, testify, testament,

uncontested.

• torquere-- to twist: contort, distort, extortion, retort, torque, torsion,

torture, undistorted

• tribuere--to pay or divide among: attribute, contribution, distribute,

retribution, tribute, tributary, unattributed.

• turbare--to trouble or cause disorder: disturb, disturbance, perturbed,

turbid, turbulence.

• volvere-- to roll or turn around: convoluted, evolution, involved, revolve,

revolutionary